forest hill June 29, 2025
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Celebration of Communion
"For Freedom ..."
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
(Galatians 5:1)
When you read that verse alone, without the context of the rest of the letter to the Galatians, it could mean almost anything. And indeed “freedom” has become such an important political buzz word in America that it’s hard to shift away from what it means in an activists’ chants. For the left, “freedom” in America has come to mean an end to domination by the wealthy white class that prevents people of colour from having the opportunities they deserve. For the right, “freedom” in America has come to mean an end to the government telling people what to do and what to think. The two camps talk past each other, both treasuring the word and yet expecting entirely different outcomes. Sometimes the conflict even gets violent – both sides appealing to this Bible verse; both sides accusing the other of oppression and lack of patriotism.
Both sides seem totally unaware that Paul wasn’t talking about political freedom at all, in this passage. And he certainly wasn’t intending his words to fuel an argument, or to be used as a weapon to shatter unity. In fact, quite the reverse!
For Paul, this was actually the culmination of his argument that even people who don’t follow the Jewish traditions are loved by God, and should be welcome in his new churches. There's no need to bind yourself to whole slew of religious practices in order to be worthy, he’s been arguing since chapter 2 of Galatians. That won’t make God love you any more or any less. All that matters, he says, is whether we act out of love. “The whole law is summed up in a single commandment” he says in verse 14. “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
In other words: quit your arguing. Stop trying to make other people behave like you. Stop running other people down because they have different way of doing things. God doesn’t care about that and neither should you! Is anybody saying that in America these days?
And in verse 15, Paul goes on to say: “If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”ouch!
It feels to me like the fight over “freedom” in America is making both sides in that country consume one another, and the conflict is dragging the rest of the world down too. And the more that political battle trickles over into Canada, the more we Canadians end up consuming each other too. Think how political rage is driving us to each others throats. When that happens … none of us are “free” and God weeps.
How do we find the freedom that Paul writes about? How do we find the freedom that allows us to be loving even with those who have different traditions? Difference practices? Different ways of focusing prayer and hopes and caring? How do we find the freedom that comes when we focus on “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (v. 22)? How do we live out our loving in a pluralistic society, knowing that we will never all be the same, and trusting that God cares about each of us – even those we simply can’t see eye to eye with?
Escape from the American mud-slinging about “freedom” and ponder the freedom that Paul was preaching. Ponder the freedom that Jesus offers. Ponder the freedom that emerges when we are all as different as can be, and still one in the Spirit.